Thursday, May 31, 2012

Well, I did it. I blogged every day this month. I only posted on my facebook wall about a few entries, and the views stayed low, but that is totally okay. I didn't really have a reason to do this BEDIM thing, and getting blog hits wasn't even in my mind, so I'm not let down or sad or anything.

I don't even have a profound statement about what I've learned or experienced while writing every day this month. Since I'm not finishing the blog or anything, I'll still write in it occasionally, so this isn't goodbye, just the end of the month-long challenge. I guess this is a pretty drab conclusion to the challenge...
Well, June is nearly upon us, and with that, I'll be able to say "I'm going home next month." I've had a wonderful time here, and to go home to the States and hunt for a job all over again is going to be a pain. I was actually looking online at what it would take for me to go back to London, since I loved my study abroad trip there, but I was saddened to see how near-impossible it is for an American to live/work there. Being able to work at the British Library or museums would be SO amazing. Maybe I can someday find a way to go back.

I guess I can finish up this month by asking a question: what should I change my blog name to? I don't know why I chose Imaginative Irony, and I've never really been very attached to the title. If you, yes, dear reader, you, have any suggestions, leave a comment. If I see a good one, I'll happily use it as the title!
So long, O lusty month of May, you've been a nice one.

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

It happened - I forgot to write a post yesterday. But, I'm in luck because on the other side of the world it's still yesterday, so I'm not completely out of luck.
Last night I was waiting for a friend to get online, but I fell asleep. I woke up about 4 times with my computer by my side and checked my email every time. My friend never did get online, which I guess allowed me to get some sleep.
Also last night I went the new movie "Snow White and the Huntsman" and I'm happy to say that it was a perfectly fun movie. It seems that most people hate the actress playing Snow White, and I even wasn't too excited to see her, but I guess the role of Snow White isn't that deep or complicated and I thought she did fine. All she had to do was look sad and determined, and as everyone knows, that actress is great at that face.
The costumes and design were really cool though. It was just the kind of fantasy movie that I love. There was even a part with a horse stuck in swamp mud and I had to restrain from screaming "ARTAAAAAAX!!!"
Sometimes students ask teacher what their favorite movie is, and I have a hard time answering because I like so many. I usually just answer, saying "fantasy movies" and follow up by saying Harry Potter. Then they laugh and say that I look like Harry.
Well, this is the penultimate entry in my Blog Every Day In May challenge. It's short (like they all are these days), but maybe I'll be struck with inspiration for an amazing final entry. Let's hope so.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

As a kid, I never ever got ice cream from the freezer section of gas stations or the ice cream truck or anything. We always had some bucket of ice cream in the freezer at home, so I never really felt like I wanted or needed to by a single serving ice cream treat. Also, they were usually too expensive.
But then I came to Korea.
Ice cream bars and treats are so cheap here! I think that I've got ice cream after every time I've been out with friends after eating. It's not just me, either - everybody gets ice cream here! Every store has a massive ice cream freezer and a huge selection.
My current favorite is the milkshakes in a CapriSun type pouch. I could eat them all day (today I pretty much did). It's also tradition here where I work that you get ice cream after eating kimbap. It's just assumed that on your walk back from the kimbap place you will stop at one of the shops along the way and get ice cream. The portions are just right and take the spicy out of your mouth.
I think that I'll try to continue the tradition of ice cream after meals when I'm back in the States, but I'll also have to get plenty of exercise to keep myself from turning into a blob. If I do turn into a blob, I imagine that I'd look a lot like the Stay-Puft guy - complete with a smile.

Monday, May 28, 2012

I just finished the movie "Contact" (1997), and I must say that I quite enjoyed it. The whole reason I watched it in the first place was because I saw a clip from the film with really amazing camera work, and I thought that there might be more interesting shots to look forward to.
Well, there some more shots that were interesting, but the point is that I watched the movie and enjoyed it.
I'm a sucker for special effects, sci-fi, and fantasy, and Contact was a good addition to my have-seen movie list. It sorta felt like more approachable "2001: A Space Odyssey," but with a trippy finale that makes sense to a casual movie goer (who hasn't read the book). Anyway, I'd recommend it, just be sure to have 2.5 hours for it.
Sorry this is so short, but that's all for today, folks!
See you tomorrow!

Sunday, May 27, 2012

About two months ago, I went to a Yongin Traditional Village, which was build to replicate the old-time villages in Korea and to teach about Korean heritage. It was a little cold that day, but I had lots of fun. There was also an amusement park section. Those traditional villages had it all!

There were a few tall rocks and some trees with rope tied to them for you to write down a wish and then tie the paper to the rope. There were thousands of wishes, it looked really amazing.

There must have been many gateways in the days of yore if this village taught me anything.

"In the past, parents used to send their children to their neighbors after putting a winnowing basket on their heads to correct their habbit of wetting the bed."What?! How would public humiliation correct bed wetting?

I bet that most people didn't smile when they had to carry this thing.

This was a game in which people try to land a dowel vertically into a series of rings. It was more fun to watch that to play.

This picture doesn't show how truly colorful this was, but it was pretty amazing.

Here is a detail of the gate thing from the previous picture.

What traditional village would be complete without THE VIKING?!?We went on this SO many times (as you can see, it was not crowded).

This little boy sat by me on this ride, and then sat by me or my friends for maybe 5 other rides (his mom didn't want to go on the rides). He was so cute! Also, as you can see, I taught him the roller coaster pose of my people! One of my proudest achievements!

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Today was an awesome lazy Saturday. I slept in, skyped my family, played nintendo and the piano, noraebang, and ate ice cream.
As open and free my day was though, I still didn't think of anything to write for today.
So, instead of boring readers with my pointless ramblings, I'll post a video with one of the most amazing pieces of music ever. My only suggestion is that you LISTEN to it, not watch it - the conductor is freaking crazy! It's rather distracting. So yeah, listen to it and enjoy!

Friday, May 25, 2012

My baby brother graduated from high school today (or yesterday for that side of the world). I can't believe how time flies. For graduation, his whole class is going to Disneyland! My own grad-night was really fun, but Disneyland would have made my day! Best last day of school ever!
So with the youngest gone for the next day and a half, and my other two brothers either married or off to a job-training thing - and of course my being in Korea - my parents are officially empty nest-ers for the first time ever.
Time is so weird for me to think about... I still feel like a kid most of the time, and making life decisions is stressful and scary. When my mom was my age she already had 3 kids! I think I'm not too cut out for this being-an-adult thing.
Just the other day I was email-chatting with my best friend and we were thinking of some fun things to do when we both get back to our hometown. The list I've been making is pretty awesome, let me just say, but it's still strange to be planning on being back in the States. It's like starting all over again. I really have no sure idea where I'll be in three months. I'm hoping for a certain job I applied for (and am totally qualified for), but if that falls through, I'll be without a plan. How am I supposed to have fun if I'm jobless and running out of money and stuff?
Anyway, perhaps in three months' time I'll have posted again about my wonderful perfect life and new adventures. Stay tuned for that! ("Be optimistic!" they say.)

Thursday, May 24, 2012

I believe I mentioned in my first post this month that I wasn't sure I'd make it past 24 posts, and I must say, here, in my 24th post, that I nearly forgot to to write today.

I have been reading "Hard Times" by Charles Dickens, and while it's quite good and the writing is fun, I can't help but only read tiny portions at a time. I finally decided to look for the audiobook, and behold! there are free audiobooks on librivox and my book was there! I downloaded the book and put it on my ipod in the audiobooks category, and I love that I can speed up the narration. Instead of listing to a guy talk slowly for a half our, I can get the whole thing in 15 minutes instead.

In the book, there is a character named Mr. McChoakumchild (he's a school master) and I think that his name is awesome. It makes me think of Miss Trunchbull or Professor Umbridge.

I'm liking Dickens enough to probably tackle one of his larger works after I finish this one. Any suggestions?

Another good audiobook is the entire trilogy of "His Dark Materials" by Phillip Pullman. Seriously, It was better than the book! The author narrates and there is a full cast of performers for the characters. Because of this, the narration excludes the "he said" and "he sighed" and other parts that are obvious and unnecessary with a cast narration. The trilogy has become one of my favorites, and even though I read it only about a year or so ago, whenever I see the series on a bookshelf I have the same nostalgic feelings that I do when I feel like re-reading Harry Potter (which also have good audiobooks).

The only downside to audiobooks is that in order for me to not get distracted while listening, I MUST be doing something with my hands that required no thought, such as cutting out things for class or cleaning or playing tetris or something. If I don't, I'm either asleep in minutes or tune the noise out while I think of other things.

A couple months ago at work we had a prep day in which no classes were taught, but there was plenty of things to work on. I cut out a million game pieces and listened to the entire "Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman. It was a good way to keep busy and not lose my mind.

Another Audiobook I recommend is "Foundling" by D.M. Cornish - it's a fantasy with the world-development of something by Tolkien. It's also very modern and feels like a quick read. The book itself is also well worth the effort of reading because of the author's illustrations and the immense and fun index (or "Explicarium") in the back. Give it a shot!

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Lately I've come home from work, checked email, and fallen asleep before 7:30. I then wake up after 9 pm sometime wondering what time/day it is, then staying awake for hours afterwards.
Is this healthy? It's just a nap before bedtime, and honestly, I feel fine when it's time to actually wake up in the morning ("Fine" being no less grumpy and tired than usual).
I've become pretty good at getting ready really fast in the mornings, too. I did it in 15 minutes the other day, including a shower!
I think I'll never be one of those people that takes too long to get ready in the morning, thank goodness. I usually have a pretty good idea of the selection of clean clothes I have available to wear, and luckily at my job jeans are okay. That makes getting dressed quick and painless for me.
Today, though, I took longer than usual because I decided to fight with the part in my hair and comb my hair the other way. Amazingly it worked out okay and the hair in the back that usually sticks up like a middle finger at me all the time was somehow tamed in the process. People at work commented, too, wondering if I cut my hair or something. I seriously ONLY combed it to the other side.
Anyway, that is my boring life. Coming my hair and taking naps.
And checking my email way too often just hoping that something will be there. That's another issue though.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

When I lived in the States, there was a gas station not too far from my house. It was part of a chain, but this one station was pretty new. Filling up my car was never that fun, but I loved making unscheduled trips there to get frozen yogurt or nachos or hot chocolate.
One time, My BFF and I went to the gas station to to get something I thought I'd never ever do: buy a hotdog. Not just any old regular hotdog either. The Bahama Mama.
I don't know what possessed us to do it. The rolls of meat were slowly spinning in the plastic cage under the heat lamp and somehow convinced us to each buy one.
To make that story short, we ate the Bahama-Mamas and felt like dying afterward. I don't think I'll ever (and I MEAN it this time) get gas station hotdogs again, no matter how delicious the nachos or frozen yogurt or hot chocolate are.

I found this picture when I googled "Bahama Mama" and it about sums it up.

Monday, May 21, 2012

The students at English Village today were mostly really fun. They apparently had a field trip somewhere else get cancelled, so they came here instead. Because of that, we've been told to just make it fun for them while they're here.
Yay! No studying!
So, for a class today, we played chess! There were many boards and sets, so there was plenty to go around. Some kids got so into it! I even played a few rounds and shockingly won each of the three times! The craziest game lasted literally 4 or 5 moves. I took a photo of it as proof:

(Check back in half a day when I'll have wifi to post it.)

Because the kid I played was a really good sport (and was too funny under stress), I gave him a few bonus stickers in his little "passport" that they get at EV.

To you readers who like reading mega-long posts, sorry to disappoint, but I'm super tired and going to call it a night. What should I write about tomorrow?

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Times are changing! At least, for me they are. In the last few months, many of my friends from work and church have finished their time in Korea and have moved on to other things. I can't blame them, though, as I'll be doing the same thing in two months.
Even still, it's kinda weird to see so much change in a short time.

A random topic for today: "Going to the Movies with Friends"
In my whole life, I've only gone to a movie alone one time. Every other time I've always had a friend or family member with me. I like movies, and I always like to discuss them and stuff when it ends and we're all heading back home. It's a fun thing to do every now and again.
But a few years ago I had plans to go to a movie with two other friends. We made plans to go the next day to the matinee showing of Inception. The next day came and I could not reach my friends. I was kinda bummed and maybe a little pissed, but I decided to go to the movie anyway.I drove to the theater alone, bought one ticket, and went in to find my seat. It was weird and I felt like everyone was wondering what kind of lonely guy can't even find a friend to go to the movies with. Anyway, the movie started and I kept having little thoughts about what the twist would be and what I thought might happen, or there may have been a mumbled line that I would have asked my friend about, but none of that mattered because I was there alone.
Then the movie ended and I walked back out to my car and drove home and thought about the movie and talked about it to no one.
And it was one of the best movie theater experiences I've had! Sure, my friends were flakes and that sucked, but seeing a movie on my own let me be completely "in the movie" the whole time.
There are some movies that I would love to go to with friends (usually the kind with big midnight openings), but that one time I went alone taught me that sometimes being alone for fun things can still be good.
Eating at restaurants alone, though, now that's something I never want to do alone.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Today I slept in and it was wonderful.
The plan for the day was to go do some for-fun shopping at Myeong-dong, get a haircut, and eat at an Indian buffet. I did all those thing and it was great!
Of all the things I bought, every single one is a useful piece of clothing. I found some cool tees and a jacket (that I'll save for fall) and some shorts and they were all priced really well. I also bought a bunch of sock that are comfy and lightweight, so perfect for the death-heat/humidity that will be here soon.
My haircut was quick and just a clean up trim, and the barber left my hair longer on top, just the way I like it.
The Indian food was really good too. I love the aloe chicken (that's what it said, though I didn't notice any actual aloe) and the butter chicken. If I see other Indian places in my life, I'm gonna have to check them out.
After I got home, I started laundry and left to go play piano. I forgot to take my phone, so I lost track of time and stayed longer than I thought. The two pieces I worked on most were Waltz of the Flowers from Nutcracker, and Aunt Marges Waltz from Harry Potter 3. That Aunt Marge Waltz is SO hard for me! I've been on-and-off practicing it for years now, and I still haven't really got any of it down.
Here is what I hope I can sound like someday:

I have to prepare my lesson for church tomorrow, so that's all for today!

Friday, May 18, 2012

I had a rabbit named Skittles once. I never knew if it was a male or female.

I love candy. I've never felt sick from eating too much of it either.

I was directly affected when Eyjafjallajokull (that Icelandic volcano) erupted and my flight from Dublin to London was cancelled (it's a good, but long, story).

I am the eldest of four boys in my family.

My first CD of my own was the soundtrack to Toy Story.

I remember almost all my friends' birthdays from elementary school and their phone numbers too.

I cried at the end of Aladdin when I saw it in the theater for my birthday.

I'm a chronic gum chewer.

I sang bass in Handel's Messiah three years in a row.

I love salmon.

I've been playing piano for about 18 years and still sorta suck at it. I'm not that bad, but I'm really not that good.

I have a cat named Kenya, but she doesn't know it. She goes by Kitty.

I think the movie "Clue" is one of the funniest ever.

Though I've tried, I've never pulled an ALL nighter - I've always taken a nap or something to disqualify me.

I love writing with fountain pens.

I check postsecret.com every Sunday.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch is one of my favorite cereals.

When I was young, white bread was my favorite, but now I can hardly stand the thought of eating it. It's wheat for me now.

My earliest memory of going to a movie was to "Fern Gulley" at the Cinema 6 in St. George, Utah.

I took 4 semesters of Spanish in college (all within the last 3 years) and I remember nothing I learned.

When I was 11 I crashed on my bike and had a major concussion - I remember waking up at the hospital a full day after the crash...

I can literally quote the entire movie "Matilda."

One of my best friends growing up was Canadian and his grandma would send him cool candy that wasn't sold in the States.

I truly believed that the mansion down the road from my childhood home was haunted. There was really no reason for my belief, either.

I was a jerk to a boy in my scout troop, and I feel terrible about it.

I'm a very loyal friend.

The only time I ever ditched class in high school was on "senior sluff day" and I still went to 2 classes.

When updating/loading up my iPod, I am never finished until there is album art. For. Everything.

My grandma taught me how to crochet when I was like 6, and I still know how (you should see my invincible iPod case I made).

I cannot remember my shoe size. I think it's 10 and a half, but I still have to try on a few sizes whenever I go to get new shoes.

A medium once tried to do an "angel reading" for me and tried to convince me she had the 'Sight' or whatever by bringing up that time when I was younger and my family had to put down our horse. Except that never happened and she was just crazy.

I feel sort of bad playing "Disney Scene It" with people because they have very little chance of winning.

I was Yussl the Hatter in my high school production of Fiddler on the Roof. I auditioned with the Brady Bunch theme song.

I never really grew out of the music I loved in middle school.

I'm a Gryffindor. I was a little surprised because I thought I'd be Ravenclaw.

I'm 5'10" and 160 lbs (as of now).

I have a personally signed CD from Enya. I won it by solving a 4 week long riddle game from her website.

When playing Rock Band, I like the keyboard or drums. I can't get the guitar down.

"Return to Oz" is one of my favorite movies. I asked my mom to rent it so often we could have just bought it with all the money we spent on renting that movie.

I have quite the arsenal of funny youtube videos to recommend (as long as people get that I'm weird and like strange things).

Thursday, May 17, 2012

One fictional character that stands out in my mind as one of the best ever created would be the poker-faced Ron Swanson from "Parks and Recreation."
Basically every line he's ever uttered was amazing. This post will be a small tribute to him. Enjoy!

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

My month of blogging is halfway finished! It's probably a good thing, too, since I have been struggling to come up with stuff to write about as of late. Despite my asking, no one has offered any suggestions or topics for me to ramble on about (and there HAVE been page views, you lurkers!), so I guess I'll continue to ramble on about whatever comes to mind...

Random Topic, here I come!
"History or Math?"
Okay, so I'm thinking that the topic is asking about which I prefer and why. (What else could it mean?)
If that is the case, I completely choose history.
I never "got" math - every day in school it was a struggle after about 6th grade. I can't say that I loved history either, but now I think history is fascinating and important and enlightening - it's about people and consequences.... Math can be done on a calculator.
I think that it's great that some people really have a knack for math and numbers: my youngest brother did very well in his math classes, and my dad always knew all the things I needed help with when I was in school, and that's really great and amazing that some people can do that. I'm just not one of them.
With Wikipedia and other online sources, I occasionally get sucked into studying about various historical things. The links throughout articles turn into tabs across my browser waiting to be read.
One example of this is when I saw a book called "The Devil in the White City," about the Chicago World's Fair, in the non-fiction section and thought it looked interesting enough to look into later online. Turns out that the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 has one of the juiciest and psycho serial killer stories intertwined with it. It was way more interesting than the quadratic formula.

The password to Satan's gmail account

If on the small chance any of my history teachers are reading this and think, "That kid was a total screw off in my class," I must say that you are right. In school I didn't much care about history. I was more worried about impending doom awaiting me down the hall in the form of a trig test, or if my parents had checked Power School that day, or if my trees in Animal Crossing had any fruit yet. That was then. Now, I find history so amazing! I guess it just took a bit of growing up to realize it.

For me, History is the clear winner when compared to math.

And I still hate Power School. Kill it with fire.

P.S. For those who don't know, Power School allows parents to check their kids' grades online whenever they want. This is usually how the process went for me, as portrayed by Drew Barrymore:

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

At work today, just before we were to go pick up our students, one of the head teachers showed us a music video from a new-ish(?) boy band called Taken. We were all wondering what in the world was going on, but when the video finished, we were told that the group would be in English Village for a photo shoot (supposedly for their album art), and that we would need to keep our students in check.
Well, as it turned out, they did indeed take pictures all afternoon and danced in sync and dressed like Korean pop stars and the students were enthralled even though they had NO idea who this band was. I heard the girls gasping and swooning and saying "boy band!" and being completely annoying, bless their hearts. I tried telling my class that the band was Taken, and they replied, "Chicken?" and still didn't care.
On my way home after clock-out, the group was still taking pictures, and it was when some underling was tying a guy's shoe for him that I decided I needed to snap a picture of this ridiculousness.
Unfortunately I wasn't fast enough to get the shoe-tying (she stood up just as I snapped the picture), but here are the pictures I did get:

"Did you double-knot it this time?"

Looks like I'll need white pants and a pastel tee to make is big here after all...

Also, for your viewing pleasure, here is the music video that was shown to us at work:

As far as K-pop goes, this is pretty lame, and has every K-pop video cliche evarrrr: weird asymmetrical hair styles, long dance numbers, random English phrases, perceived badassery, and a chorus that will haunt you for days. For the record, I do not like this song or video. I think most of my co-workers didn't like it either, and some of them are pretty avid k-pop-cultured people.
My friend next to me said with mock sentimentality, "Aw, look how young they are! Just starting to wear makeup."
So there it is, perhaps the next big thing for Korean kids to dance to at talent shows.
Even though I might be getting too old to follow this stuff, it's still fun to see and and enjoy (and be fiercely sarcastic toward).

Here is a random picture I took 2 weeks ago of North Korea. Have a nice day!

North Korea is the land on the horizon on the other side of the river.

Monday, May 14, 2012

Today was a Monday at work if I've ever had one. Lots of sick calls means a tighter and much busier schedule for everyone else. It also rained all day and picking up the students was hectic (and outdoors - in the rain), but the busy day did seem to go by quickly.
I'm so out of ideas for blogging tonight, so instead I'll post two Youtube videos of [short] songs I like. Enjoy!

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Remember when I wrote about being asked to play with a fake iPad and be photographed? Well, today my friend said he saw me in a commercial while waiting for the subway! I don't know what it was advertising, and I'll never be recognized for the star that I am, but it's still fun to know that the random photo shoot went somewhere.

In other news, it's Mother's Day! I love my mom because she is nice and amazing and makes good food (and cookies) and tells me she loves me. What else could I want? My mom quilts and is very crafty, and I'm sure I got some of those traits of my own directly from her.

If I were home this Mother's Day, I would have done something fun or special for my mom, but I'm halfway around the world and I'm afraid a phone call will have to do. Be sure to call your own mom today too!

Saturday, May 12, 2012

This is a true story from my first day of school.
When I was started kindergarten, my mom drove me to school on the first day and as far as I recall, I had a fun day. There was even a girl in my class that became one of my best friends all throughout growing up. When the half-day of school came to a close, it was time to go home, and I was to take the bus. I walked with my class to the bus lane, where two buses waited to take all the kindergarten kids home. Well, I didn't know which bus to get on - no one had told me that there'd be two.
I don't have any idea what made me do what I did, but I chose to get on the first bus in the line, probably thinking that it was closer and I wouldn't have to walk 20 more steps to get on the other one.
Amazingly, my totally random choice landed me on the right bus and I got home safe and sound.
I sometimes remember this story and wonder how my day would have been different had I got on the other bus...The school district couldn't have been too huge, and I'm sure I knew my phone number, but I would have been a lost little boy if I'd chosen the other bus. I'm sure I would have been crying too, and the whole ordeal would probably have made me detest going to school long before my dreaded 4th grade year of misery.
So, my first ever bus ride was a lucky success. That whole school year of riding the bus home was great because the driver gave us candy when we got off the bus to walk home. To a kid like me, that was pretty dang cool.

Friday, May 11, 2012

Today at work I said goodbye to a friend who is returning home after 3 years of teaching abroad. She's going to South Africa, were it's winter during my summer and everyone's accents are super awesome.
It's a little strange, working in a place where you can make friends so quickly, and the watch them finish up their contracts and head off - who knows if you'll ever meet up again? In her farewell speech she DID say "I don't say goodbye, but instead, 'see you later'" and I think that is an amazing way to look at it.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Near my home there is a part of the desert called Three Peaks. There are hills of sandstone and dirt, but it doesn't have three distinct peaks, so I really don't know how it got its name. Perhaps one of the peaks is the one locals call "Jello Rock" which is also ridiculously named.
Ignoring the name, Jello Rock is a fun place to play. There are rock crawls every year on the sandstone boulders and campers there anytime the weather is warm. My brother and my friend and I went camping there a few summers ago on a night when a meteor shower was due, so we climbed up the to the peak with camp chairs and without a flashlight (and I do mean climbed - it was steep, and really dark too) and my friend somehow did it in flip-flops because she forgot to bring real shoes. Anyway, we made it to the top and had a wonderful time talking and enjoying the amazing meteor show for a while before heading back down the mini-mountain to our camp.

But not before snapping a picture of the show!

Another time, the same friend and I went out to Three Peaks to let her dog run around and be free while we chased after trying to get it back. Again, it was night this time and we somehow totally got lost among the millions of juniper trees.

So treacherous!

After half-joking about never finding the car and having to walk miles back home, we finally found our ride and the dog and came back home unscathed.

During the writing of this post, I searched online for some pictures of the places I mentioned, but sadly couldn't find any. I did find a bunch of my hometown that look like I'm from a deserted prairie with nothing even in the distance to look at. When I am back home I'll see if I can rectify this by posting some pictures that show that there are, in fact, mountains on the distant horizon and therefore something to look at in the distance besides cows and ranch-style houses with no greenery to speak of.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Once upon a time, in a distant land, I endeavored to make a book of left-handed drawings and doodles and some words, and believe it or not, I actually filled the blank composition book full! I did this for a friend, to whom I did give the book, but things changed and we grew apart. Since then, by a stroke of luck, I got the book back and I will never let it go again!
Since that time I've started other books too - none were so complete or fun, but I still doodle and stuff. I'm by no means a talented artist, and I have a sort of strange style. When it comes to "drawing abilities," I don't really have much, but I still like to put pen or crayon to paper, and I usually do it left-handed so it looks like a first grader drew it. Provided for your viewing are a few "drawings" I made...
I love the artist Edward Gorey and tried to copy some of his stuff into a book I started, and here is a picture:

This was just a doodle, nothing significant:

I also love calligraphy, but I'm really slow. Things like this take me a while, but I think they look pretty nice:

This is an envelope that I made for a letter I wrote, and turned out really cool, I thought.

Not everything is black and dark though - this is the album art I made for a friends birthday mix I made:

And here are some parts of the original book I mentioned (sorry for the poor quality, I took these with a crappy camera like 5 years ago):

"If you even get close to me I'll bite your little fingers off."

Maybe someday I'll photocopy my drawings and bind them in a book of my own to keep forever and scare my future kids with. It could be fun!

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

I decided to make myself possibly look super stupid here and post the first 10 songs that come up when I put my iPod on shuffle. I must say that right now my iPod isn't as well-stocked or updated as I'd like, so this list might not represent me all too well at the moment... Here we go!

"The Most Wonderful Day of the Year" (performed by Glee Cast) This is that Rudolph Christmas Special song. If there were ever a Christmas drinking song, this might be it.

"I Cannot See His Color" From The Village soundtrack by James Newton Howard. One of my most favorite soundtracks ever!

"Doctor Jones" By Aqua. Everyone has music guilty pleasures that lasted from their middle school days, right?

"Keep Holding On" (Originally by Avril Lavigne, performed by Glee Cast) This is a good never-give-up song.

"Count On Me" by Bruno Mars. I actually haven't listened to this song more than once or twice, so I have no real opinion about it now. It sounds nice though...

"Dangerous Garden" From the Coraline soundtrack by Bruno Coulais. This soundtrack is so different and fun! It is kinda eerie too, but has some really great moments.

"Nowhere to Now Here" by The Kin. My friend shared this band with me before she left Korea a few months back, and, I must say, they are quite good. It builds up really good; this song is actually my favorite by them. Check it out!

"Something Got a Hold of Me" from the Burlesque OST, Christina Aguilera. I don't remember the song that well from the movie, but I bet she furrowed her eyebrows when she did her runs all over the place.

"Sea of Simulation" from Tron: Legacy, by Daft Punk. I think I liked this movie and its soundtrack more than most people. This song sounds like floating in space while surrounded by space-seahorses with Bob Ross to the side painting the whole thing.

"Kakariko Village" From Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary album, by Koji Kondo. This is a pretty song that a staple tune from many Zelda games, and this version is very nice.

Whether this represents my musical tastes effectively or not, these are the songs that came up. I bet there could have been much more embarrassing songs to come up, but I also think that there are lots more that could have made me look better.

On a random note, I just Skyped with a very good friend back in the States, and it was wonderful! For anyone reading this out in the world, you should call or write an email to a friend that you don't see too often, I'm sure it will make their day!

Monday, May 7, 2012

There is something about breaking out a fun old game among friends and playing it till you're mad at everyone. That is why I hate playing Monopoly. That, and that it takes FOREVER to finish.
So instead I like to play games that are easy to pick up and are just as fun to watch as they are to play. Just such a game is Mario Kart 64.
Because of marvelous technologies, a bunch of friends and I were able to hook a laptop to a flat-screen TV and play Mario Kart 64 with Xbox 360 controllers (I'm sure someone is rolling in their grave) for an evening of fun like I've not had in ages.
Battle mode is the perfect chance to get to know your friends: will they take advantage of you when you are vulnerable? Turns out I think they always will. At least in Mario Kart a bunch of friends can still be friends after it's all done.

(The stare-down. Only one will make it out alive.)

And yet again I write about something Nintendo...I swear in real life it's not a regular topic in discussion.

Another great techno-thingy is my iPod touch. The first one I ever saw was in the car-ride home from the airport when I returned from my LDS mission. I thought it was cool, but since then I caved and bought one after my little brother did.

I've been able to use my iPod - my music player - to call people all over the world, check and write email, take pictures, surf the Internet, play games...It's the best little gadget I've ever had, and it's coming on 2 years old now. I've not caved into a smart phone yet, and I think that's in part to my iPod doing all the stuff I want it to.

A couple years ago I got a digital piano, and my brother promptly got a headphone adapter for me to use while playing, which made it fun for me and not-annoying for my family.

I'm rambling. I love technology, but not as much as you, you see. Let me know what I should write about next!

Sunday, May 6, 2012

I think that most people who know me personally know that I love music and playing the piano (though I think if you DO know me personally then you've probably also been annoyed at me for playing the piano too much), and I love the mechanics of music, its history, etc.... I took Music Theory in college just for fun, and I loved it! I email my friend - and former short-time piano teacher - every once in a while and bombard her with questions and info about random pieces of music and composers and stuff, I'm sure to her annoyance too.
Anyway, today's topic is on musical theme and variation, which is explained by Wikipedia as follows:

"A [musical] technique where material is repeated in an altered form. The changes may involve harmony, melody, counterpoint, rhythm, timbre, orchestration or any combination of these."

An example that came to mind right away was the famous "Variations on a Theme by Paganini" by Rachmaninoff. Rachmaninoff is one of my favorite composers and I just love his music. He did a whole set of variations on a theme created by Paganini, my favorite variation being number 18. In the picture below you can see the original melody was simply inverted (turned upside down) and put in D flat major. It is so pretty!

Here is the 18th variation for your listening pleasure. I hope you love it!

As nice and pretty as that 18th Variation is, there was recently another, modern piece that surprised me with its own awesome variation. As I've said before, I like Nintendo, and I was pleased as could be that the newest Zelda game, "Skyward Sword" came with a really great orchestrated music CD with very well made arrangements from the series' melodies. (Am I a nerd or what?) The last piece on the album is the theme from "Skyward Sword," and it's epic and original. Right?

To show what I mean, I'm afraid there will have to be a couple more videos to watch (but I promise they're worth it, and not very long either!).

Ok, so this is the theme from the newest game, called "Ballad of the Goddess"...

Okay, so here is one of the main themes from the series as a whole, called "Zelda's Lullaby." It's a simple theme that basically any person who's ever played any Zelda game should know instantly:

(If you want, just listen to the first 25 seconds for main gist.)

So there we have two songs that don't really seem to have that much in common, right? Let's listen to that "Ballad of the Goddess" again, except this time, played backwards.

Holy cow! When I read that the "ballad" tune was an arranged and modified version of the "lullaby" I hardly believed it, but after listening, I love the music so much more! For accompanying a game that deals so much with time and going forward and backward in time to save the world, this variation fits so perfectly.

So there you have it, some short thoughts on musical theme and variation and my two favorite examples. I didn't think that the random topic chooser would lead me to a post that I liked writing so much.

So, dear readers, do you know of any other cool themes and variations I should know about? Post a comment!

Friday, May 4, 2012

May 5th is Children's Day in Korea. For what I've gathered from the kids I teach, they love it because they get presents and have a nice holiday (sounds kind of like what I call Christmas), and the English Village I work for is hosting a number of activities today for families. I've heard that it will be extremely crowded and hectic, but so far, it doesn't seem so bad. (True, I haven't yet left my apartment, so we'll see what it's like when I go out today.)
This picture is of a big fake tree decorated for Children's Day at Everland, the same big fake tree that was decked out in Halloween ghosts when I was there last year. I also totally copied and pasted this from Google images.
I'm heading into Seoul this afternoon, so today's post will be rather short as I need to get packing. I did notice, though, that my post from yesterday got about 40 views. That's 40 more than usual. I wondered if the Star Wars related content was the culprit, so I googled "may the fourth be with you" and amazingly my dinky little post was on the first page! I thought that was fun.
Welp, I'm off to Seoul, and I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Star Wars Day!
I was one of the kids born and raised in the years after the original Star Wars trilogy, so I don't really have any memory of the first time watching it. I was in Middle school when the prequel trilogy started to release (and therefore too young to yet realize how annoying Jar Jar was, to my everlasting shame), but no matter the love or hate people have for any particular Star Wars movie, I like them all.

Ok, so I'm going to use the random topics generator....and the topic is:
"A Movie Poster that has Affected You"

There is a cool trend/genre in art in which people make their own minimalist versions of movie posters, some of which are really amazing. (Fan art? Did I just admit I like it?) For this topic, the first movie poster that pops into my mind is this one:
I love it! I love how there is an hourglass(for time-travel), full moon (for the werewolf), and the line from MacBeth, which was used as lyrics to a song in the film, and the melody from the song being a significant motif throughout the film score. I feel like Prisoner of Azkaban was a big turning point in the film franchise, and I loved the creativity and darkness that wasn't in the previous films; I feel like this simple poster really captures the feel of the movie (at least for me).

Some of my very good friends worked for the movie theater in my hometown, and occasionally the theater would get rid of their extra posters by just giving them away, and I was able to pick up a few as well. True, the popular posters always vanished first, but I still got a few that looked cool, even if I hadn't seen the movies they were for. I got the full-sized, double-sided posters of Hellboy II, Terminator Salvation, Battle for Terra, Best Dad in the World, and maybe one or two more. As a fan of cinema, just having those few posters is kind of fun. I did use the "Best Dad" poster for a Fathers' Day surprise when I put a cut-out of my own dad's head on the poster and hung it up in the house. It was super lame, but it was fun to make and it saw the light of day for probably the only time in its existence.

So, dear readers(are there any?), has there ever been a movie poster that has affected you? Tell me all about it!

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Back in college, must've been the Fall semester of 2009, I started watching a fun little show on TV called "Glee." I liked it because it was funny and subtle and they used music to tell parts of the plot and develop story lines.
Then it got even more mega popular and it seemed to changed. Now I watch the show because I usually like the music (which doesn't have as much to do with the plot besides the lyrics fitting someone's mood), but hardly care at all about any of the characters. A couple weeks ago, an episode ended with a big cliffhanger when a character was smashed into while driving. During the moments after the screen went black, I was thinking to myself, "I hope she died, I hope she died," and not because I hated the character, but because I was hoping that it would force the show to change things up, to have a different direction for a bit, instead of what seems to have been preachy episodes one after another.
Turned out the character lived. Why can't I just stop watching the show?

Lucky for me - and the whole world - there is another show that is so much more fun and enjoyable, called "Parks and Recreation." Parks and Rec is the happiest show on TV and I have loved it since my best friend introduced me to it a couple years ago. If I have a long or bad day at work, I can watch an episode and feel better afterward. Isn't great that at TV show can do that? If there are other shows that are positive and funny and lovable, I want to know about them!

I just had the thought that instead of blogging every day, exercising every day would probably do me better...

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Last weekend I went to the Olympic Stadium in Seoul to see Lady Gaga kick off her Born This Way World Tour.
The whole day was long, but pretty fun. There were a couple in the group, but only my friend and I got off work early. He and I went to the stadium and picked up our tickets, and we were there early enough that we were each given a designer water bottle. How fancy of them! We arrived early enough that we had plenty of time to go down a stop and get dinner at Coex (the biggest mall I've been to) and still get back to the stadium with time to spare.
The show was pretty fun. We were dead center, but pretty far back along with thousands of other people, but they were way into the show and it was still lots of fun. The set was a HUGE castle, the costumes were crazy, and the dance numbers were all really amazing. Lady Gaga did almost every single song in her catalog, so there wasn't much to complain about. Sadly I didn't get any pictures during the show because my camera doesn't do well in the dark without a flash.
After the show, we all piled into my friend's car and made the trip home. We made a wrong turn and got to see part of the city twice, and later we stopped at Hongdae for food. We didn't actually get back home until 2:30 am or so.
It was a long day, but so fun!

Here are some pictures I did NOT take of the show:
The set was HUGE!

One of the dozen or so costumes she wore:
The HUGE crowd! I was sitting just about at the left edge of the picture,right above the white row of lights, do you see me?

Today I wore my favorite T-shirt, the blue one I got from Nintendo World in NYC, and the students commented on it all day. Yay me for having a cool shirt!
I love Nintendo! My family got a SNES when I was in kindergarten with Super Mario World. I've played that game so much. I don't personally know anyone better than I am at that precious little game (Youtube isn't personal), but I love to play it with people still. Last year I was playing the original Super Mario Bros. on my Wii with my Grandma (who had the original game on the NES) and it was so fun! I got a little anxious a few times when I wanted to yell "Jump, Grandma! Jump!" but I held my tongue and watched her kill Mario a few times. It was awesome! I also got her to play Mario Kart Wii that same day, figuring that in that game turning the controller actually turns your car too, so it should be a bit easier to pick up. It wasn't, but I still had a great time.
Another Nintendo game that holds a special place in my heart is The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. I spent countless hours with my friends in their basement taking turns playing and figuring out the puzzles and dungeons. There was one time where we decided to make a cake, but for some reason it never reached the oven, so we sat watching each other playing the game and ate the entire bowl of funfetti cake batter. As far as I remember, no one got sick from that either.

Best game ever? Probably.

Ok, so Day 2 has two completely unrelated topics with no segue to be found. I don't have any set plans or big ideas for upcoming days or topics, so if there are any readers that have an interesting topic idea, please message me!
See you tomorrow!